App could help you beat a speeding ticket

No doubt getting a speeding ticket has to rank up there as one of biggest irritants for any driver. But now there's an inexpensive application that can help you beat that ticket.

If beating that ticket comes down to your word against an officer's, take a guess at who's more likely to win. But now with the TicketDefender app, your words will be backed up with technology.

The financial incentive to get out of a speeding ticket is huge.

"Potentially it could save you a minimum of a $230 ticket. In the state of California if you get one ticket, your insurance rates normally go up 25 percent," said Ralph Krause of TicketDefender.

Krause came up with the idea for the TicketDefender. It's an application that tracks your speed. Ron Heiskell is the engineer who developed it. He explains how TicketDefender works.

"The TicketDefender app is using GPS and cell tower readings," said Heiskell.

It's the same technology in the Waze app used by ABC7 News Traffic Reporter Frances Dinglasan. TicketDefender monitors your speed and can give you a print out of your speeds updated every five seconds.

"You see the big red button there, it says press when ticketed. That's the button you would press if and when you were ticketed," said Heiskell.

The app was just released this year. It remains to be seen how law enforcement will react to it.

"I don't know what they're going to think about it to be truthful with you," said Krause.

The more important question is how the speed information from TicketDefender might hold up in traffic court.

"Traffic court is a quasi-criminal proceeding. The rules of evidence apply and it has to pass that muster," said attorney Rafael Trujillo.

So far there are no known cases when someone has used the app to beat a ticket.

"They're going to have to show that your phone was working properly on that day. You have to show that the GPS system was unbroken at the time you were using it," said Trujillo.

The app currently sells for a $1.99 and can also be used to track your jogging and walking speed or how fast you're going on your bike.

"So this is a technology whose time has come. It's more accurate than what the police officers are using," said Heiskell.

The app is available right now only for iPhones, but plans are in the works for an Android app as well. The current $1.99 price is an introductory offer only; it's likely the price of the app will soon be increased to $4.99.